A Lesson in Time
by SpiritOfSherwood
Summary: Set after the Family of Blood in Series 3. Martha finds the infinite complexities of Time and Space hard to comprehend but the Doctor and the TARDIS gives her a helping hand in understanding Time the way the Time Lords used to. Maybe slight 10/Martha late


Hello there

**Hello there. . . My first Doctor Who FanFic for some reason because I try to concentrate on Robin Hood all the time. Sort of an attempt to cure my**** severely chronic Writer's Block really but I also wanted to write this before it escaped me again. Basically, we are back in Series 3 after Human Nature/Family of Blood and the Doctor offers Martha the chance to understand Time the way the Time Lords used to. Not as boring as it sounds (hopefully)**

**I don't own Doctor Who but if I did then . . . OH THE MADNESS!!**

**Enjoy!**

The Doctor opened the wooden door of the TARDIS to let Martha back into the living vessel. "We will remember them" announced the priest leading the memorial service. _We will remember them_ echoed the gathered Cadets, Congregation and aging War Veterans from nearly ten years of indescribably bloody warfare. The Doctor took a long look back at the wizened old man in his wheelchair. A Victoria Cross glistened on his coat the same as a tear trickled down his aged cheeks as he fondly stroked an ancient fob-watch with peculiar, inter-locking symbols elaborately carved into the polished metal surface of the watch. The two men acknowledged each other once again before the Time Lord entered his TARDIS, fired up the engines – and left.

"Right then Martha Jones! Time for a good old bit of Allons-y! Where do you want to go now?" asked the Doctor as he practically launched himself onto the TARDIS' control console and began to frantically flick buttons and handle exotic, outlandish alien machinery. The TARDIS gave an almighty jolt as it dematerialised and nearly crashed into the Second War for Vantruum in the Taaraji system before the Time Machine was gently coasting along in the Vortex.

The Doctor gave the TARDIS a little bang with his mallet to keep the Space/Time continuum in place before slumping down into the captain's chair, staring through the soft blue Core of the TARDIS at nothing in particular until he noticed Martha, her face distorted by the Living Essence of the Core.

She hadn't moved since the TARDIS had taken off. She was leaning against a safety rail, rubbing her forehead and staring at the floor, a somewhat pained look on her face. The Doctor noticed that she was staring at something in her hand: the Remembrance Poppy which he had given her minutes ago.

"Something wrong Martha?" asked the Doctor as he stood up to address her. "Nothing, nothing at all" said Martha somewhat distantly. "It's just . . ." She trailed off. "Do you want to go home?" asked the Doctor, panic taking grip in his chest. Martha looked into his eyes and smiled a faint smile "I don't mean that Doctor its just seems so _unfair_ that the Wars happened. All of those brave young soldiers falling down in the mud in their droves for no good reason. I mean, I just can't _understand_ why History took that course in that direction . . ." she trailed off again and turned away from him and stared up at the Core.

The Doctor felt the kindred spirits between the two of them become much stronger than before. _She's right_ the Doctor thought. He felt _exactly _the same way about the outset of the Time War. He remembered watching helplessly as the Fire took everything. The Fire _he_ had unleashed. The surface of Gallifrey glazing over and cracking as the Dalek Navy relentlessly bombarded it even as the Cataclysm took both Time Lord and Dalek vessels. The way tens of millions of Daleks raged as they burned, turned into ash which fused together and became molten glass, the collective psychic scream of thousands of Time Lords and TARDIS's echoed, warped, and twisted into the Vortex and his subconscious before fading into eternal, never-ending silence. The way everything turned white and waking up hours later in a new body doing nothing but huddling on the deck of the nearly burnt-out TARDIS, raging, crying and screaming into the darkness as he realised that he was utterly alone in the Universe and could never go back to intervene – it had already become established events.

"I can't stop it from happening Martha" muttered the Doctor quietly"

"Yeah" replied Martha in a shaky voice. "It'll probably mess around with some weird paradox or something like that which mere mortals cannot possibly ever hope to understand" Her words hung in the silence, the bitterness of them stagnating in the air before the Doctor spoke again. "I can't stop it but I can teach you how to understand. The TARDIS and I can help you if you are willing"

Martha looked back at the Doctor and fixed him with an unfathomable stare. Those huge brown eyes seemed to bore into him. "Can you really do that?" she asked. "Come with me" The Doctor said simply with his hand outstretched. A moment later, Martha took it and both Time Lord and Companion descended into the depths of the TARDIS together.

**So how was that? Alright, mediocre or just plain weird. Five reviews will earn you chapter two so go on and press that little blue button and review away my lovelies! If the ending sounded a bit romantic then sorry to burst your bubbles although I sympathise with any Ten/Martha shippers out there. The Spirit loves you all!**

**Much Love From The Spirit**

**Remember: Ten/Martha forever! WOO!! (No offence to any Ten/Rose or God forbid it, Ten/Donna or Ten/Astrid shippers out there)**


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